The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-15

community where he was exposed to such sud
en- and fatal congestion of the brainl"
The third cause they assign is the passage of
what is called the stock law; and most
sign thcance of this legislation, beg to be lit
tie rl'o!ix concerning it Before the passage of
this law by the different Legislatures it was
custom Vary, all over the Southern States, to
fence he crop lands, while the cattle of all were
allowed TO run in common over the rest of the
land. This custom was a survival, in the march
of develo pnnent, of the times when land was
owned in common and not in severalty. Practi-
cally it asserted the right of tho laudless
man TO tiis proportion of the property OF
the landed. Whether the law is is not q
wise is not the point here; but it has
tainly borne hard upon the negroes. In the
first place it robbed the vast majority OF negroes
OF the cows and pigs upon which they SO much
depended for u living. and in the second place it
deprived them CT an employment which was the
only one open to them at certain seasons of the
year-that of building fences around the crop
lands. Some of Tho negroes declared that the
stock law was thA last straw that broke the
camels back. Tho ugh not much given to subtle
reasoning, rhe Uses of mankind seem to be
guided by of instinct which warns them
OF danger; and SO the negroes, though their
mode of logic is not very clear, cannot help see
ing in this law a menace SO their social freedom
The fourth cause of ttiscontent is the threat
ened adjustment of the lien law. When the
negro was freed he had nothing-not even the
credit which would enabl him to plant a crop
Without such credit he ould have had to hire
to the landowners, and thus, from the abun-
dance of numbers and consequent competition,
he would have obtained sutsh q nero plttance
that state of absolute slavery would have been
better thar a renewal Of Spar tan helotry. The
carpet-baggers framed this ONE wise law of liens.
Let give credit to Galllee when good comes
out of it, By this law credit was
given to the negro If independent
minded. he could procure land and mule,
and, by mortgagiDg his crop to a certain extent,
was enabled to raise one and make a decent liv-
ing. The rent the landowner allowed to
charge was limited to one-third the crop, while
liop Of han ayfa dnn ha 0t har
two-thrds. Accordingly, the share syHtem large
ly prevailed. the land owner obtaining one-third
of the crop for his share and the renter having
the other two-thIrds, but the law b as been
amended" so that the landowners lien covers
the whole crop. AS soon as this was accom-
plished the share system disappeared, and
all cases the rent was exorbitant,
and in many cases 1 have known the
whole crop to be seized for the rent. Not con
tent with this ample security and these large re-
turns, which caused the price of land to advance
six-fold in value some Of the planters formed a
scheme for the total adjustment of the provision
lien law. Their idea is to deprive the negro Of
all opportunity for Independent farming and to
force him to hire himself. Farm hands are
scarce in the South, and the wages they receive
are higher than the planters want to pay. They
desire to make labor plentiful and wages low.
When all the negro renters are thrown upon the
market for hire, the competition will naturally
reduce the stipends they receive and thus the
objects of the planters will be secured.
Such the causes which tending ard
which will more and more tend to force the
negroes to migrate from the South These facts
cited not for the purpose of making any
humanitarian appeal, but simply to exhibit the
history of very curious social problem. 1t
may be that an abrupt solution is near at hand.
Strong necessary make large
masses of men leave the land of their BIRTH but
surely, If these causes continue to operate, the
negroes will continue to leave the South in large
numbers.
In this manner the blacks may be scattered
from their strongholds all over this broad land;
and thus, in detached parties, they will be sur
rounded by the overwhelming masses of the
white population, and so. politically and socially,
elevated. The thing needed is not the suppress
sion of this movement, but its control and regu
latiop No partisan capital should be made out
of it, but the negroes should be dispersed
throughout the West and North widely
possible. 1t should be recollected that the well
fare OF six millions of people is at stake. and the
question ought to be approached with the
shakable determination of allowing only the
naked truth to influence the judgment